Q. I want to have sex but I’m afraid I’ll get pregnant. Since no contraceptive is 100% reliable, if we were to use condoms and the withdrawal method at the same time, what are the chances of getting pregnant then?

A. If you use condoms perfectly every single time you have sex, they’re 98% effective at preventing pregnancy. But people aren’t perfect, so in real life condoms are about 85% effective — that means about 15 out of 100 people who use condoms as their only birth control method will get pregnant each year.

It would be a good idea to schedule an appointment at Corner Health or with your primary care provider to talk about more reliable methods of birth control such as the IUD, or Nexplanon (arm implant).

Using condoms will prevent you from getting a sexually transmitted infection.